China's changing landscape during the 1990s: Large-scale land transformations estimated with satellite data

Land-cover changes in China are being powered by demand for food for its growing population and by the nation's transition from a largely rural society to one in which more than half of its people are expected to live in cities within two decades. Here we use an analysis of remotely sensed data gathered between 1990 and 2000, to map the magnitude and pattern of changes such as the conversion of grasslands and forests to croplands and the loss of croplands to urban expansion. With high-resolution ( 30 m) imagery from Landsat TM for the entire country, we show that between 1990 and 2000 the cropland area increased by 2.99 million hectares and urban areas increased by 0.82 million hectares. In northern China, large areas of woodlands, grasslands and wetlands were converted to croplands, while in southern China large areas of croplands were converted to urban areas. The land-cover products presented here give the Chinese government and international community, for the first time, an unambiguous understanding of the degree to which the nation's landscape is being altered. Documentation of these changes in a reliable and spatially explicit way forms the foundation for management of China's environment over the coming decades.

Reducing H2S production by O-2 feedback control during large-scale sewage sludge composting

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) production patterns and the influence of oxygen (O-2) concentration were studied based on a well operated composting plant. A real-time, online multi-gas detection system was applied to monitor the concentrations of H2S and O-2 in the pile during composting. The results indicate that H2S was mainly produced during the early stage of composting, especially during the first 40 h. Lack of available O-2 was the main reason for H2S production. Maintaining the O-2 concentration higher than 14% in the pile could reduce H2S production. This study suggests that shortening the interval between aeration or aerating continuously to maintain a high O-2 concentration in the pile was an effective strategy for restraining H2S production in sewage sludge composting. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monodisperse raspberry-like gold submicrometer spheres: Large-scale synthesis and interface assembling for colloid sphere array

We first suggested a one-pot method to synthesize monodisperse raspberry-like submicrometer gold spheres (MRSGS) with high yield. The resulting gold spheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersed X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electrochemical technology. It was found that the rough structure provided by raspberry-like gold spheres led to a tremendous electrochemical active area, which was very important because these novel hierarchical gold spheres will probably find important applications in biosensors, electrocatalysis, and others.

Large-Scale and Template-Free Growth of Free-Standing Single-Crystalline Dendritic Ag/Pd Alloy Nanostructure Arrays

Large-scale arrays consist of dendritic single-crystalline Ag/Pd alloy nanostructures are synthesized for the first time. A simple galvanic replacement reaction is introduced to grow these arrays directly on Ag substrates. The morphology of the products strongly depended on the reaction temperature and the concentration of H2PdCl4 solution. The mechanism of the formation of alloy and the dendritic morphology has been discussed. These alloy arrays exhibit high surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity and may have potential applications in investigation of "in situ" Pd catalytic reactions using SERS. Moreover, electrocatalytic measurements suggest that the obtained dendritic Ag/Pd alloy nanostructures exhibit electrocatytic activity toward the oxidation of formic acid.

Facile Hydrothermal Synthesis and Luminescent Properties of Large-Scale GdVO4:Eu3+ Nanowires

Large-scale GdVO4:Eu3+ nanowires with diameters of about 15 nm and lengths of several micrometers were achieved by a facile hydrothermal method in the presence of disodium ethylenediamine tetraacetate (Na2H2L). The influences of several parameters, such as pH value, reaction temperature, and molar ratio of Na2H2L to Gd3+ on the final products were investigated. The formation mechanism of the as-obtained GdVO4:Eu3+ nanowires is proposed on the basis of time-dependent experiments. It is found that the organic additive Na2H2L, which acts as a shape modifier, has a dynamic effect by adjusting the growth rates of different facets, resulting in the formation of the GdVO4:Eu3+ nanowires. The luminescent spectrum of GdVO4:Eu3+ nanowires shows the strong characteristic dominant emission of the Eu3+ ions at 614 nm.

Large-scale, rapid synthesis and application in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of sub-micrometer polyhedral gold nanocrystals

Macromolecule-protected sub-micrometer polyhedral gold nanocrystals have been facilely prepared by heating an aqueous solution containing poly (N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) and HAuCl4 without adding other reducing agents. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectroscopy (UV-vis-NIR), and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were employed to characterize the obtained polyhedral gold nanocrystals. It is found that the 10:1 molar ratio of PVP to gold is a key factor for obtaining quasi-monodisperse polyhedral gold nanocrystals. Furthermore, the application of polyhedral gold nanocrystals in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) was investigated by using 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) as a probe molecule. The results indicated that the sub-micrometer polyhedral gold nanocrystals modified on the ITO substrate exhibited higher SERS activity compared to the traditional gold nanoparticle modified film. The enhancement factor (EF) on polyhedral gold nanocrystals was about six times larger than that obtained on aggregated gold nanoparticles (similar to 25 nm).

Large-scale, uniform DNA network on 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid modified gold (111) surface: Atomic force microscopy study

Large-scale, uniform plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) network has been successfully constructed on 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid modified gold (111) surface using a self-assembly technique. The effect of DNA concentration on the characteristics of the DNA network was investigated by atomic force microscopy. It was found that the size of meshes and the height of fibers in the DNA network could be controlled by varying the concentration of DNA with a constant time of assembly of 24 h.

Large scale, templateless, surfactantless route to rapid synthesis of uniform poly(o-phenylenediamine) nanobelts

We reported the interesting finding that large scale uniform poly(o-phenylenediamine) nanobelts with several hundred micrometers in length, several hundred nanometers in width, and several ten nanometers in height can be rapidly yielded from an o-phenylenediamine-HAuCl4 aqueous solution without the additional introduction of other templates or surfactants at room temperature.

Large-scale synthesis of Berlin green Fe[Fe(CN)(6)] microcubic crystals

Berlin green FeFe(CN)(6) microcubic crystals have been successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal process between K-3[Fe(CN)(6)] with Na2S2O3 aqueous solution, free of any surfactant or template. The experimental results clearly show that the molar ratio of K-3[Fe(CN)(6)] to Na2S2O3 and their concentrations are the dominant processing factors in controlling the size, morphology, and composition of the resulting products.

Column chromatographic purification free synthesis of long-chain monodisperse oligo(1,4-phenyleneethynylene)s: towards large-scale automatic synthesis of molecular wires

A facile, mild and rapid solid phase synthetic route free of column chromatographic purification to the synthesis of soluble monodisperse long-chain oligo(1,4-phenyleneethynylene)s is presented.

Ulva diversity in the Yellow Sea during the large-scale green algal blooms in 2008-2009

P>In the Yellow Sea of China, large-scale green tides have broken out for three consecutive years from 2007 to 2009. As part of the efforts to localize the algal source, two cruises were conducted in the early stage and the outbreak stage of the bloom in 2009. We analyzed the morphological and genetic diversity of drifting Ulva specimens and culture-derived isolates from seawater sampled in different localities. For phylogenetic analyses, the nuclear encoded ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS nrDNA) and the plastid encoded large subunit of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxgenase gene (rbcL) were used. Our molecular and morphological data indicate that the dominant free-floating Ulva species in 2008 and 2009 possibly belonged to a single strain of the U. linza-procera-prolifera (LPP) clade. The ITS sequences from bloom-forming algal samples with dense branches were identical to those from U. linza-like specimens without branches derived from the Yellow Sea. Microscopic individuals of the dominant Ulva strain were detected in eight stations, revealing that spore dispersal in the water helped to enlarge biomass in the water during the outbreak stage of green tide in the Yellow Sea.

Solving the coastal eutrophication problem by large scale seaweed cultivation

Eutrophication is becoming a serious problem in coastal waters in many parts of the world. It induces the phytoplankton blooms including 'Red Tides', followed by heavy economic losses to extensive aquaculture area. Some cultivated seaweeds have very high productivity and could absorb large quantities of N, P, CO2, produce large amount of O-2 and have excellent effect on decreasing eutrophication. The author believes that seaweed cultivation in large scale should be a good solution to the eutrophication problem in coastal waters. To put this idea into practice, four conditions should be fulfilled: (a) Large-scale cultivation could be conducted within the region experiencing eutrophication. (b) Fundamental scientific and technological problems for cultivation should have been solved. (c) Cultivation should not impose any harmful ecological effects. (d) Cultivation must be economically feasible and profitable. In northern China, large-scale cultivation of Laminaria japonica Aresch. has been encouraged for years to balance the negative effects from scallop cultivation. Preliminary research in recent years has shown that Gracilaria lemaneiformis (Bory) Daws. and Porphyra haitanensis Chang et Zheng are the two best candidates for this purpose along the Chinese southeast to southern coast from Fujian to Guangdong, Guangxi and Hong Kong. Gracilaria tenuistipitata var. liui Chang et Xia is promising for use in pond culture condition with shrimps and fish.

Large-scale isolation and purification of R-phycoerythrin from red alga Palmaria palmata using the expanded bed adsorption method

R-phycoerythrin, a light-harvesting protein in some marine algae, and can be widely used in medicine, was isolated and purified from a red alga, Palmaria palmata (Lannaeus) Kuntze, using the streamline column (expanded bed adsorption) combined with ion-exchange chromatography. Because the crude extract was applied to the column upwardly, the column would not be blocked by polysaccharides usually very abundant in the extract of marine alga, this kind of blockage could hardly lie overcome in ordinary chromatographic column. After applying the crude extract containing 0.5 mol/L (NH4)(2)SO4, (NH4)(2)SO4 solution of different concentrations (0.2 mol/L, 0.1 mol/L and 0.05 mol/L) was used to elute the column downwardly and the eluates were collected and desalted. The desalted eluates were then applied onto all ion-exchange chromatographic column loaded with Q-sepharose for further purification of the R-phycoerythrin. Through these two steps, the purity (OD565/OD280) of the R-phycoerythrin from P. palmata was up to 3.5, more than 3.2, the commonly accepted criterion for purity, and the yield of the purified R-phycoerythrin could reach 0.122 mg/g of frozen P. palmata, much higher than that of phycobiliproteins purified with the previous methods. The result indicated that the cost of R-phycoerythrin will drop down with the method reported in this article.